Driving mechanism for motor-vehicles.



w. H. COLDWELL. DRIVING MECHANISM FOR MOTOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED .IUNE I8, I9I4.

1,189,792. Patented July 4,1916.

wi lwbmw I lam/W601, a/ 1. (av/ e SIM m m 8 W mf WILLIAM H.

COLDWELL, or nnwsunen, NEw YonK.

DRIVING MECHANISM FOR MOTOR-VEHICLES.

4 Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 4, 1916.

Application filed June 18, 1914. Serial No. 845,784.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. Oom- WELL, acitizen of the United States, ing at Newburgh, in the county of Orangeand State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Driving Mechanism for Motor-Vehicles; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

My invention consists in the novel features hereinafter described,reference being had to the accompanying drawings which illustrate two,embodiments of my invention selected by me for purposes of illustration,and the said invention is fully disclosed in the following descriptionand claims.

Referring to the said drawings,

embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of thedriving rollers showing my invention applied thereto. Fig. 3 is apartial top plan view of a portion of themotor lawn mower illustratingthe form of clutch actuating mechanism shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 4: is adetail sectional view of a portion of an automobile structure showing myinvention embodied therein.

In the construction. of power operated vehicles such as motorlawnmowers, motor rollers, automobiles and the like, it is customary toapply the power to the rotary supporting and traction wheels or rollersthrough the instrumentality of a mechanism known in the art asdifferential gearing. This differential gearing usually comprises thecentral rotary driving member generally termed the spider which carriesa plurality of beveled pinions mounted therein on the radial'axes andoperatively connected with the source of power, and a pair of opposedbeveled gear wheels located on opposite sides and in mesh with all ofsaid pinions, each of said gear wheels being operatively connected withone of the traction rollers or wheels with the result that from thedriving means is applied to the spider and through the spider to thetraction rollers or wheels substantially equally, while at' the sametime permitting one of the traction rollers or wheels to rotate morerapidly than the curve in turning. In the practical operaresid- Figure1, is a side elevation of a motor lawn mower In the case of power other,as in traversing a tion of driving mechanism of this character, itsometimes happens that one of the connected traction rollers or wheelswill be in firm contact with the ground, while the other is raisedslightly off of the ground or lies in or upon soft mud or other yieldingsurface which does not afford practically any traction and under suchcircumstances the wheel or roller which is in firm contact with theground can remain stationary while all of the power is applied to theother wheel -or roller which simply turns idly without advancing thevehicle. This condition frequently arises in the case of motorlawn'mowers which have broad traction and lawn rolling rollers connectedwith the driving motor through the intervention of a differentialgearing, and in which it frequently happens that the machine'becomes soplaced that one of the said rollers is in firm contact with the ground,while the other is partially or wholly supported above the ground. anautomobile or other veh1cle having widely separated traction wheels,this exact condition is less likely to occur but it frequently happensthat one wheel rests on solid ground while the other wheel rests in amud hole 'or in sand, so that it has no tractive power. In either case,and with either class of machine, it is difiicult or impossible to movethe machine and it frequently becomes necessary to place a board underthe loose wheel or roller or to resort to some other means to make thetraction of the two wheels more nearly equal before the machine can bemoved.

The object of my present invention is to overcome this difliculty and toprovide machines of this classlwith an emergency mec anism which can bebrought into operation when required for the purpose of putting thedifferential gearing out of operative con--. dition and directing thepower of the prime motor, or other driving or propelling means directlyto the wheel or roller which is in positive tractive relation with theground so that under the circumstances previously described the vehiclemay be readily caused to advance and may be quickly brought to adifferent portion of the roadway or ground where the traction of thewheels or rollers is more nearly equal.

In the case of automobiles, my invention produces an additionalbeneficial result, in that the operator can throw in the auxiliarymechanism before referred'to and put the differential gearing out ofoperative condition whenipassing over wet or slippery surfaces wherethe'vehicle is liable to skid, thus causing the power of the engine ormotor to be applied directly to both wheels and preventing to a largeextent, the skidding or sidewise movement of the vehicle, which in myopinion. is due, to a considerable extent, at least, to the ability ofthe wheels to rotate independently as they may do where the differentialgearing is in operative condition.

4 provided with a drivers seat 6, and the steering wheel 7 operativelyconnected in any usual manner with the steeringroller or roll- I thatthe clutch member 24 may be thrown ers 3. The machine is also providedwith a cutter frame 8 provided with a rotary cutter 9, and stationarycutter 10, indicated in dotted lines, the said mower frame beingsupported by caster wheels 11 and the rear or ground roller 12, andoperatively connected with the chassis 1 by links 13 so that the mowerframe is pushed ahead of the chassis in a well known way. The drivingshaft 5 of the motor is operatively connected with the traction rollers2, as hereinafter described, by sprocket or other gearing, and

the driving. shaft is also operatively connected by sprocket chain orotherwise with. the shaft of the rotary cutter 9. These parts of themachine are of well known structure and their specific details do not ofthemselves form a part of my present invention.

The traction and lawn rolling rollers 2-2 shown in Fig. 2 are ordinarilymounted loosely upon the driving shaft 14', which is provided with. adriving wheel or sprocket 15, operatively connected with the engineshaft by a suitable chain. Thev shaft 14 has secured thereto adjacent toits center, a driving member or spider-16 whichcarries a plurality(usually 3 or 4) ofbeveled-pinions 17, mounted upon radial studs orshafts 18 with which the spider is provided, and projecting on oppositesides of the spider. Each of the rollers 2 is provided at its inner endwith a beveled gear wheel 19, which gear wheels are on opposite sides ofand are in mesh with the pinions 17, in the usual manner. I prefer toprovide one of the rollers 2 with a band or annular flange 20 whichextends into the other roller to close the crevice between the tworollers and protect the dif- 4 ferential gear grass, etc. v

In the embodiment of my invention shown from dirt and particles of :lockthe opposed beveled ner that they in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, I have shown oneof the rollers 2, (the one at the left in Fig. 2) provided at its outerend with a clutch member 21, which may be formed integral with theroller or separate therefrom, and connected thereto, the same being ofthe well known type of dog clutch member, that is to say, having asherein shown, recesses 22 to engage the dogs or projections 23 on theother clutch member 24, which in this instance is mounted on the shaft14 and connected thereto by a spline 25 so as to be movablelongitudinally of the shaft into and out of engagement with the clutchmember 21. The

movable clutch member-24 may be thrown into operative position quicklyand easily when desired. It will be seen that by throwing this emergencyclutch 2421 into engagement the adjacent roller 2 will be rigidlylocked' to the driving shaft 14 through the clutch, and being thusunable to turn with respect to the shaft, its beveled gear 19 will beunable to move with respect to the pinions 17 which will therefore ofnecessity gear 19 and the other roller 2 in fixed relation with eachother and with the shaft 14. In "other words, the differential gearingisprevented from performing its usual function and simply acts in the samemanner as if the pinions 17 were studs or pins rigidly connecting therollers 22. Consequently the power applied to the driving tively appliedto both rollers in such a manmust turn simultaneously in the samedirection, and if only one of the rollers is in tractive engagement withthe ground (and it matters not which one may be so positioned) all thepower will be applied to that roller and the machine must positively beadvanced. It will be understood that'in the ordinary use of the ma-'shaft 14 will be posiand the connected parts. In this figure, 40represents the rear axle upon which is mounted the driving member orspider 4:1

carrying the beveled pinions 42, mounted on axes disposed radially withrespect to the spider. The spider in this instance is providedperipherally with a beveled gear wheel 43 meshing with a driving pinion44 on a longitudinally disposed shaft 415 which is connected at itsforward end with the prime motor on the vehicle (not shown) in anydesired manner. l6i7 represent a pair of sleeves journaled on the axle40 at opposite sides of the spider, each sleeve carrying at its outerend a traction wheel 48 and at its inner end a beveled gear wheel e9,the said beveled gear wheel operatively engaging the pinions 42 of thespider. The

' spider is provided on oneside with a clutch member 50 and a movableclutch member 51 is mounted loosely on the shaft in position to engagethe clutch member 50 and is connected by rods 52 extending throughguiding apertures in the adjacent gear wheel $9,

with a sliding collar 53 loosely mounted on the sleeve a7, and providedwith an annular groove engaged bya yoke 54 on one end of a bell cranklever 55, the other end being connected by a link 56 with a suitableoperating lever within reach of the driver. By means of this link 56 andbell crank the collar 53 may be moved longitudinally of the sleeve 47 soas to move the clutch member 51 into engagement with the clutch member50 when desired, thus locking the connected wheel &8 rigidly to thespider ii and preventing relative movement between the pinions 42 andthe gears 49, thus putting out of operation the differential gearing andcausing the power from the shaft 45 to be transmitted positively to bothof the traction wheels 48, as will be readily seen. It will be obviousthat the clutch member 51 can be operated as before described to throwout the differential gearing and lock the wheels to the drivingmechanism whenever one wheel rests upon mud, sand, or other yieldingground, so that the full power of the motor will be transmitted to thewheel which is in tractive relation with the ground. The clutch may alsobe operated when passing over wet or slippery surfaces as before statedto throw out of operation the differential gearing and prethedifferential gearing out of operation,

andvconnections whereby these means may be instantly thrown'into or outof action while the mechanism is in operation.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a motorvehicle, the combination with an integral driving shaft extending fromone side of the vehicle to the other, of a pair of rotary tractiondevices each loosely mounted on said shaft, differential gearingcomprising a driven gear member secured to each of said rotary tractiondevices, and a driving member secured to rotate with said shaft andprovided with pinions mounted thereon and each engaging each of saiddriven gear members, and clutch mechanism for positively connecting oneof said loosely mounted traction devices to the said shaft.

2. In a motor vehicle the combination with an integral driving shaftextending from one side of the vehicle to the other, of a pair of rotarytraction devices each loosely mounted on said shaft, a driven gearmember fixed to each of said rotary devices,

a spider fixed to the driving shaft between said driven gear members andprovided with pinions each of which engages both of said driven gearmembers, a clutch member se cured to rotate with one of said rotarytraction members, a movable clutch member secured to rotate with theshaft but movable longitudinally thereof, and means for tl1row ing saidmovable clutch member into and out of engagement with the other clutchmember. I

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

XVILLIAM H. GOLDWELL. Witnesses E. W. WYATT, lBnn'rHA B. APPEL-

